Mamata Banerjee, Amit Malviya Spar over NITI Aayog’s Observations on West Bengal Finance

KOLKATA:
A war of words has erupted between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the BJP’s Information Technology Cell Chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, over the latest findings and observations of NITI Aayog on the state’s financial condition.

Malviya on Tuesday countered the Chief Minister’s statement on X, claiming that NITI Aayog officially recognised West Bengal’s strong performance across key socio-economic indicators.

In her message, the Chief Minister gave details on how NITI Aayog acknowledged West Bengal’s achievements under various socio-economic indicators like literacy rates, lower school dropout rates and higher pass percentages in Classes X and XII compared to national averages, life expectancy rates, sex ratio, infant mortality rate, total fertility rate and quality of life.

She claimed that under all these parameters, West Bengal’s ratings as per NITI Aayog’s latest observation were above the national average. “These achievements reflect West Bengal’s continued commitment to inclusive and sustainable development,” the Chief Minister said.

However, refuting the Chief Minister’s claims, Malviya said on Tuesday that the latest NITI Aayog report completely exposes the economic mess in West Bengal under the Trinamool Congress government.

He also accused the Chief Minister of hyping selective statistics when the actual financial indicators painted a grim picture. In support of his counterargument, Malviya highlighted statistics under other socio-economic indicators where West Bengal’s achievements had been much lower than the national average.

The socio-economic indicators highlighted by Malviya in his counterargument include the female labour force participation rate, West Bengal’s real GSDP growth rate, the state’s share in national GDP, per capita income and gross enrolment ratios in both higher secondary and higher education.

According to Malviya, the latest report of NITI Aayog also pointed out how West Bengal suffered from a high fiscal deficit, worsening debt-to-GDP ratio, and a chronic revenue deficit.

“The state met its fiscal deficit targets in only 2 of the last 5 years, and its debt-to-GDP ratio target just once. Revenue deficit remained unaddressed between 2016-17 and 2020-21, which was a clear signal of fiscal mismanagement,” Malviya claimed.

According to him, this was not just underperformance; rather, it was a downward spiral. “West Bengal is economically adrift, with the state treasury running dry and no serious effort to create new income avenues. TMC’s model of governance has left Bengal increasingly dependent on Central funds and taxes, even as it rants against Delhi,” Malviya added.